we are watching some major developments at the u.s. supreme court where the nine justices are behind closed doors considering whether to take up cases that will impact same-sex marriage in america. ten marriage equality cases are on the high court's menu. eight of them deal with the federal defense of marriage act, or doma. joining me now is chris geidner. the man who knows the supreme court inside and out, pete williams. pete, good to have you with us. break it down. which cases are we talking about, and how quickly might we find out whether they will move forward? >> reporter: well, if they're going to take any of these cases, thomas, it's very likely we'll find out this afternoon. and i think the most likely event here is that they will grant one of the cases that challenges the federal defense of marriage act. passed in 1966 by congress signed by president clinton, it defines marriage as for federal law purposes as only the legal union of one man and one woman. now, the practical effect of that is that in the nine states that now g